1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to boats and, more specifically, to rear extensions for boats.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following descriptions and examples are not admitted to be prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Propeller-driven boats are often used for water sports, such as but not limited to water skiing, knee-boarding, wake boarding and wake surfing. The size and shape of desirable wakes and waves varies for each sport and is also dependent on the skill and preference of the person performing the sport. For instance, it is often desirable to water ski and knee board with relatively flat wakes and, conversely, it is often desirable to wake board and wake surf on relatively larger wakes/waves, but there is a degree of variability in each of such groupings. Given such variances on desirable sizes and shapes of wakes and waves for different water sports and preferences, achieving differing and optimal wake/wave size and shape for each sport and skill-type on a given boat is very difficult. Due to the rise in popularity of wakesurfing, inboard boats may be particularly susceptible to such challenges. Most water sports are performed on boats with planing hulls, which when planed produce a relatively small and clean wake and, thus, are generally conducive for water skiing and knee boarding. For sports utilizing relative large wakes and waves, boats are generally operated at slow enough speeds so that they do not plane and are weighted to displace a relatively large amount of water, particularly at the boat stern to produce relatively large wakes and waves. The size and shape of a wake or wave generated by such a technique as well as the distance a wave is from the boat, however, are often limited and are particularly dependent on the amount and placement of ballasts in the boat as well as the design of the boat. It, therefore, would be desirable to develop boats and/or devices which may aid in manipulating the size and shapes of wakes and/or waves.